Dyeing her hair will help Anne to change their colour to black, brown or even red instead of Golden for which every young man loves her. In this way, she thinks, she will be able to make her lovers love her for her inner beauty instead of physical appearance.

In addition, dyeing her hair will help her to recognise those who love her just for her physical beauty.

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In the poem, For Anne Gregory, little Anne desires to be loved for her inner beauty. However the poet tells her that she is loved because of her beautiful golden hair. They do not care about her inner beauty and rather prefer the physical beauty.

To this, innocent Anne asks the poet whether they will continue to love her in the same way if she dyes her hair with a different colour like brown, black or red. So, Anne wants to test those despair lovers by taken away the golden colour of her hair. But, the poet replies that their love will wither away if she does so.

These lines throw light on the myth of physical beauty which is traditional and man-made. It has no logic or reason behind it.

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Before understanding the phrase, we need to know the meanings of the words. Great here refers to beautiful, honey-coloured means golden, rampart means a wall of a fort used for its protection. Here, rampart refers to hair of Anne.

Thus, the phrase refers to the beauty of Anne’s hair. According to him, young men fall in love with Anne because of her beautiful golden hair which fall on her ears like the walls of a fort.

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The phrase thrown in despair is used for the lovers. Despair means hopelessness or pain. Here it refers to the love of men for women which makes them sad and hopeless. They keep dreaming of the beauty of their beloved and do not feel comfortable unless they see their beloveds.

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